I Honor The Crazy In You Contest

I had two streams of thought today that blended together and brought me here. First, I was having a discussion with a friend on FB about television shows and she is a huge fan of David Boreanaz. Former Angel, he now stars in the show Bones. Anyway, she really LIKES him in a wonderful way and I told her “I love your crazy”. At the same time, being the great multi-tasker that I am (cough, cough), I was reading Becky Hark’s post today over at Mommy Wants Vodka entitled Every Day I’m Shufflin’. She mentions the great work she does through Band Back Together fighting the stigma of mental health and emotional traumas. And that got me to thinking….

I wish there was a Namasté word that meant I honor, recognize and accept the crazy in you as you do for me.

My friend recommended Squirrel-Food (as in nuts) and I complained that it needed to be prettier.

She then suggested “La nourriture pour écureuil”, which is French for …. Squirrel-Food. I complained that it was too long.

But really? Why can’t we have a phrase that shows that says sure, you might have depression or anxiety or ADHD or a form of bipolar or something else or a combination of them and yet we love you anyway? People make up words all the time.

So, I spent some time today looking. I gave up on English, but found Bricoleur in French (#7 here) and even learned to pronounce it. A bricoleur is someone who starts building something with no clear plan, adding bits here and there, cobbling together a whole while flying by the seat of their pants. And I don’t know about you, but that pretty much sums up how I live my life.

We have so many great people standing up and saying yes, I deal with mental health issues and I sometimes do with it with grace and/or humor and/or just the best way I can.

Yesterday, I shared this graphic on the fan page:

We do offer a lot of honesty, laughter, creativity, emotional support, depth of thought and a myriad of other wonderful, positive attributes to those around us.

Those of us who deal with mental health issues deserve a word that doesn’t have any negative connotations to it. We are worthy of a word that brings about smiles and warm feelings.

I’m throwing Bricoleur into the hat. What about you?

Contest was cancelled due to lack of entries.

I think this calls for another contest. I think what we could do is take one word suggestions for one week starting now and ending 9/24/2012 midnight EST. Then within 24 hours, we will start the second half of the contest and do the voting from suggestions. The person whose word is chosen at the end will get $25 via Amazon or Paypal and then a random voter during the second half will also win $25 via either Amazon or Paypal. A total of $50 of prize money up for grabs.

To enter your word/s, please leave it in the comments below. Make sure to include your email in the form (it doesn’t get shown). And please tell your friends — the more word suggestions we have, the better.

Also, I have the discretion to decide if the word thrown into the head is done with the best intentions.

Does everyone understand the rules?

1. Enter as many times as you like during the first week by commenting below with ONE word (and explanation if needed) that would be our Namasté for the mental health community.

2. On September 24, I will compile the list of words and then you enter ONE more time to vote on your favorite on the new post with the list of words.

3. There will be two winners — the one who created the winning word and a random voter.

4. Prize money will only be given via Amazon or Paypal.

5. There are no such thing as silly questions. If you have a question, please let me know.

Ready? Set! Create a new word!!!

xoxo ~ Melissa

Also, if you would like to help sponsor this prize or donate an additional prize to the pot — I’m happy to accept.

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This site has a mission. It is a journey to gain self-acceptance and then to go beyond that to the celebration of all the little bits and pieces of me. There are parts of me that I’ve slowly grown to love, such as my curiosity and passion for learning new things. Read More…